


Piecing the World Back Together

by Zurela



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, I'm sorry sweet uncle, Injury, Insecurity, Lance-centric, Langst, M/M, Season 2 spoilers, and klance is kinda lowkey?, and lance is pidge's big brother, coran is only mentioned, idk it could go either way it's totally up to you how you see it, kinda takes place mid-season 2? idk, shiro is lance's big brother okay, the idea was not mine but ty so much for letting me use it, they love and protect each other, they're all a big happy family okay, this is basically my personal recreation of s1 e4 and 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 21:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9568256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zurela/pseuds/Zurela
Summary: The Galra have taken control of the ship again. Only this time, they've brought a druid. And Lance is the only one in the castle. And he's not doing so good.Oh boy, this is bad.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This idea was not mine, it totally belongs to beloved-key on tumblr. Thank you so much for letting me write it, I really enjoyed writing this! And also thanks to asexualrey, bc the prompt was originally sent to them but I stole it because nothing makes me happier than torturing my favorite character. (I also got a little liberal with the insecurities and stuff but oh well enjoy)
> 
> Also I have been writing this behemoth of a story all night and I tried my best to catch any mistakes as I went along but it's not fully beta'd so sorry for any mistakes!

The world faded into existence slowly, one sense at a time. First, feelings of cold, of hunger, of a sort of weariness that seems like it’ll maybe never be gone. Nothing is quite stable or connected, like the disorienting sense of waking up after a deep, dreamless sleep, where time almost stopped existing.

It only takes a few moments of this before the world starts to piece itself back together. Lance had come blearily tumbling out of the cryopods enough times to recognize the sensation, almost like waking up, but something more silent about it. Like he was almost frozen in time, and there was nothing to fill the empty space.

Only, wait. This is different. More senses are returning, he’s becoming more aware of his surroundings and memories. Usually when one of the paladins came out of a cryopod, the others were waiting nearby to catch them and cater them off to get something to eat. The lights were too bright, the sounds too loud, but everyone else was there to ease the world back into existence.

This is nothing like that.

The entire infirmary is dark and silent. No bright lights gleaming in Lance’s eyes or glow of a screen displaying his vitals, no low hum of white noise from an entire castle filled with alien technology. There was never a lack of lights, or sound.

Never a lack of people.

Lance let his tired body fall to the floor outside of the healing pod while he tried to make some sense of the situation. Where was everybody? Was the castle malfunctioning? Lance was usually irritated upon waking up from cryosleep after he realized that he was not at home, waking up in his bed. He hated the glowing lights instead of sunshine. He hated the hum of machines rather than birds chirping.

But this, this was something new completely. This left Lance craving the usual overwhelming awakening because that world at least righted itself eventually. Waking up from artificially induced sleep was confusing, and the body needed time to catch up. But there had always been someone there to help him along the way. Now there was nothing.

Well, fine. If you want something done you have to do it yourself, right? Lance moved to stand and search for somebody, anybody, but ended up falling back down due to a sharp pain in his abdomen. Ah, right. The reason he had been in the cryopods to begin with.

The paladins had infiltrated a Galra ship in the hopes of finding more information on druid magic. Shiro couldn’t remember much from his time with them, and none of the others seemed eager to push him on the subject. But with the knowledge that the druids had corrupted a wormhole and allowed Zarkon to track the black lion left them needing something.

The plan had been pretty straightforward. Lance, Shiro, and Pidge worked inside while Keith and Hunk kept their forces distracted outside. Lance and Shiro were to stand guard while Pidge broke into their information databases. Unfortunately, the Galra were becoming smarter about encrypting their information and the process took a lot longer than expected. Eventually, they had realized that there were only two lions fighting outside and put the ship on lockdown, leaving the others locked inside until they were discovered. 

They held their own for a while, but were eventually overwhelmed. Now that they had been found, the drones just kept coming. Shiro and Pidge had been fighting hand-to-hand while Lance hid in the rafters to get a better angle to shoot the drones down. This was working well enough until one of them realized his position and had snuck up behind him while he was focused on sniping, slicing deeply into his right side. Lance had barely managed to shoot the drone’s head off before slumping to the side in pain. Everything became fuzzy after that, but he remembered someone shouting his name, a giant crash, and being picked up and carried off…

...and now waking up.

Considering the fact that he had woken in the castle and not a Galra prison, it was a fair assumption that everyone had made it out safely. So what happened? How long had he been asleep? Where was everyone? Were they still trapped on the ship? That couldn’t be the case, since someone had to have brought him back here, and that didn’t explain the lack of power.

There was no other explanation. The castle had somehow lost power again, like when the crystal had been blown up on Arus. That explained the fact that his side still hurt; the glass door to the pods weren’t actually glass, but rather some sort of energy that responded to touch. Without power, the pods had shut down and thrown Lance out.

So, great. Lance was here, alone, in a castle without power, still hurt, with no idea what was going on. Careful to avoid hurting himself like before, Lance gently rose to his feet. He clearly hadn’t been in there for too long, considering the wound still really hurt. But he at least managed to stand, so forced the door open and headed towards the control room with the crystal. If the others were here and safe, they were bound to be there.

When Lance finally managed to stumble his way over, he found that the room was empty, and the crystal from the Balmera was still there, only...different. Instead of a brilliant glowing white, some sort of dark purple energy seemed to have worked its way into the crevices. When Allura had healed the Balmera, Lance had been able to feel some sort of warmth emanating from the entire being, but this felt different. It felt wrong, like this small part of it was in pain. Whatever was happening here was clearly much bigger than a malfunction, and it was not good.

The best course of action from here would be to go to his room and grab his suit and helmet. If the others weren’t here trying to restore power to the ship, they must have gone out to try and find a new crystal. Quiznak, but Lance really wasn’t fond of the idea of walking to the other side of the ship. The pain was only increasing with time, and looking down at his side, the pale suit was beginning to stain with blood. Whatever progress had been made by the cryopod had been quickly undone.

Stumbling along the hallways of the castle, Lance passed by the front of the ship that he had seen far too much of recently in their fight to take down all the enemy ships that kept tracking them. As opposed to the rest of the castle, which was only lit by small red lights along the floors and ceilings, there were occasional flashes of blue light coming from there. Trying his best to go undetected, Lance snuck his way over and poked his head slightly in. Inside was a short but bulky Galra soldier, and next to him was a tall cloaked figure.

The sound of a deep, rumbling voice almost startled Lance into revealing his position, but he quickly threw the hand not braced to his side over his mouth and fell back, taking a moment to collect himself before peering back into the room.

“...a complete success. Voltron took the bait and went to the planet below to free the colony. The druid magic has corrupted their crystal. Soon the lions will all return and become trapped in their own base. All systems are down until you are ready to come collect your prize.”

“Excellent. And what of the colony that Voltron is currently fighting at?”

“I suspect they will likely be freed, though the planet has been mostly stripped of resources. A small loss in the larger scope of things.”

“Very well. You have served your ruler well. Vrepit sa.”

“Vrepit sa.”

Oh no. Oh, no no no. This was very bad. The Galra had control of the castle again, and Lance was injured and not in any state to handle this, again. 

Whatever had happened to the ship and the crystal, the others needed to stay away. He had to warn them.

Lance pushed his way through the halls, sweat dripping down his forehead. The wall was the only thing keeping him up right now. Finally, he made it into his room. Stripping off the med suit, he used some of the remains not yet stained with blood to clean up his side the best he could. Without any medical supplies to work with, Lance ripped part of the blanket on his bed and tied it around his side before pulling on his flight suit. Not a perfect fix, but it would have to do for now.

The heavy metal helmet came to rest on Lance’s head, and he kept his voice low out of fear of being somehow overheard and pain. “Hello? Allura, Shiro, is anyone there?”

Please, please let them be okay.

“Lance?” Shiro’s voice filled Lance’s head and he nearly toppled over in relief. “Are you okay? We didn’t expect you out of the cryopod this early, we thought we would be back before you were released.”

“Lance, buddy!” That was Hunk, and the joy in his voice made Lance want to cry. “Glad you’re doing better! We’ll be back soon and I’ll cook you something great to eat, yeah?”

So it was true, they had no clue what was going on. “Guys, we don’t have time for that right now. The Galra, they’re here, you need to stay away, don’t come to the castle, please…”

“What? What are you talking about? We’re fighting the Galra down here, the ship has a barrier up, don’t worry.” Pidge sounded much too casual about this, they needed to understand.

“No, guys, this is a huge problem…”

Shiro sighed. “Lance, buddy, you’re not making any sense. You just woke up, you’re probably just tired and confused. We got out of the Galra ship okay, everyone is fine now. We’re down on another planet now helping liberate a colony.”

“You guys, please-”

“Lance, just-”

“Listen to me!”

That shut everyone up.

“The Galra are here, in the castle. They shut down the power again, like they did on Arus, only...only, it’s different, I don’t know what they did, but something is wrong with the crystal. They brought a druid this time, it’s all a trap. The colony is a trap, they were trying to bait you guys down there so they could take the castle. If...if you bring the lions back, they’ll take them. Oh, god, Blue, they must have her already...please, please just keep the other lions safe.”

“Lance, we need you to stay calm.” Shiro sounded like he was telling himself as much as he was Lance. “The blue lion is down here with us. All the lions are safe, we’ll make sure they stay away until the castle is back in our control.”

“What? But how-”

“Allura is piloting the blue lion with Coran. When we received a distress call from this planet, we were worried about not being able to form Voltron without you here. We thought we were lucky that the situation hadn’t called for it, but now that we know it was a trap…”

“...Oh.”

Keith prevented Shiro from continuing. “Lance, who’s there in the castle with you? We need you to get them out of there so we can come help you.”

Lance sighed in frustration. “I know, but...what do I do? The castle has no power, I’m here alone, they have total control. I don’t even have my lion, all I have is my bayard, and they have an evil witch!”

“Lance, listen to me,” Allura commanded. “You have to shut down access to the entire ship. If the Balmera is still there, then they still have a way to control it. If you sneak into the engine room and cut off their access, there will be a small window of time where they have to reboot the system. We can use that time to get back in and capture them before Zarkon arrives. Just like Pidge did when the castle was bombed.”

“Okay, okay…” Lance began muttering frantically as he searched the map of the castle. “Got it. I’m headed down there now.”

“Good,” Shiro sounded more relaxed now with a plan. “We still have work to do down here. Since we can’t come back to the castle yet, we can at least work on getting the Galra out of here so they can’t act as reinforcements. We’ve got your back, buddy. You just have to not get captured.”

Lance actually huffed out a chuckle at that. “I’ll try my best. You guys be careful. I got this.”

With that, the radio went silent and Lance got up to look for a way to get into the engine room without being noticed or bleeding out. The blanket scrap was doing a good enough job for now, but it wouldn’t hold out forever. Lance leaves his room as quietly as possible and begins his half-run half-stumble through the corridors, looking for some sort of hidden entryway that he can use to sneak down below without being detected. Sure, there were only two others on the ship, but druid magic was a tricky thing. He wasn’t taking any chances, no thank you.

Finally he found a small panel in the wall leading to something like an air duct and started climbing through. Did they use air ducts in space? Really, it was only natural, considering they were in space, alternating between a mix of different atmospheres and nothingness. Lance ought to ask Coran more about it sometime.

Focus. Everything felt fuzzy and somewhat tilted to the side. The whole world wasn’t really lining up properly, like it felt upon initially coming out of the cryopod. Lance’s thoughts were muddled, confusing what happened the first time the castle was invaded and now. He had been allowed to sleep the first time, why couldn’t he sleep now?

Right, because this time he was alone. The fate of the castle, of the team, of Voltron, the princess, the universe, it was all riding on Lance. Confused, injured, terrified Lance, all on his own. How was he going to manage this?

Allura suddenly chimed in on the comms. “Honestly, Lance, piloting the blue lion is quite enjoyable. Much better than sitting in the castle. Would you like to trade positions? I’m sure Coran would love to be your right hand man.”

“What?”

Shiro joined in too, laughing. “Please, princess, nobody could take your place.”

Lance let out an uneasy laugh. Right, just a joke.

“You could be in charge of the castle and pilot the blue lion!”

What were they talking about, this couldn’t be right… “Shiro, what are you saying? You don’t need me as the blue paladin?”

Keith scoffed. “Honestly, Allura, you’re a better pilot than him. And he went to flight school. You have much more control than he does. He’s too much of a wild card.”

Lance was starting to get frustrated with this. “Okay, Keith, you don’t have any place to talk. At least I don’t go charging into battle without a plan!”

“Well, let’s be real here, Lance,” Pidge said, sounding bored. “Why would the blue lion even let her pilot it? At least when Keith piloted the black lion, it was in a moment of desperation. The black lion knew what it had to do to keep its pilot safe. We didn’t even really need the blue lion, but she still accepted Allura. It just makes sense that she could replace you.”

No, no, this wasn’t true. “Hunk, you think I’m a good paladin, don’t you, buddy?”

Hunk sighed into the radio. “Sure, Lance, you filled the position when we needed it, but Allura did too. Didn’t you say you were homesick? Now you could just go home and let us do our thing.”

“Well, sure, I do miss home, but..I could never just leave, knowing that you guys are out here fighting to defend the universe. We’re a team, how could I just abandon you? Shiro, you’re the one always saying we need to stick together. I don’t understand how you guys could just be...so ready to get rid of me. After one day.”

“Lance, we’re just trying to do what’s best for Voltron-”

“Is this about the Galra ship? I didn’t mean to get hit, I swear. I...I got caught up trying to watch your backs. I’m trying my best to be a good team member! I know I’m not the best pilot, and I’m not an engineer or a scientist, but...please, I can be useful, I can…”

Something was wrong. They wouldn’t say these things. At least, not while he was their only hope of getting back into the castle. And keeping Voltron safe. If this was for the good of the team, then they would at least wait until they were back and safe. Would they really kick him out then? Everything felt so fuzzy, and wrong, like Lance wasn’t even fully there. His side hurt so bad, crawling through the walls with such limited space. Everything felt unnatural, like there was some sort of presence in his mind, like…

...like he felt when he saw the corrupted crystal.

This had to be druid magic. He was hallucinating. Listening closely to his radio, he couldn’t hear the distant rumble that always played through the background of their conversations. The comms weren’t even active. Everything was fine, the team wasn’t kicking him out…

“You really think you can avoid this, Lance?”

He was still a part of Voltron, he had a job to do…

“You’re being immature. You can’t defend the universe if you can’t even own up to your own faults.”

He had people to protect…

“Why are you even trying? You’ve already failed.”

“GAH!” Lance ripped the helmet off his head and let it hit the metal surface below him. He stayed there for a minute, hunched over, eyes watering, heaving for breath. He could do this. He was Lance, a paladin of Voltron, the pilot of the blue lion. He could do this, he had to, he was the only one who could.

Lance grabbed his helmet again, but couldn’t bring himself to put it on his head. He was moving significantly slower while trying to crawl with only one arm, but if he started hearing those voices again, he might stop completely. He had to get to the engine room.

After what felt like hours of laboriously pulling his aching body through the cramped tunnels, he found the engine room. Lance kicked the door out and climbed out, feeling much better being able to stretch out. Standing, however, stretched his side and a sharp stab of pain shot through his entire abdomen. This was getting worse, and Lance prayed this would be over with soon so he could get this taken care of for good. He fell to his knees, heaving. The pain had now taken over his entire side and stomach, and the thought of standing almost brought tears to Lance’s eyes. Well, that was fine. Better to stay low and as invisible as possible in case the Galra were searching the castle for any potential intruders.

Crawling over to the control panel, Lance pulled his helmet back on his head and activated the communication system. “Hey, guys?” Lance sounded sheepish and quiet and hoped the others wouldn’t pick up on it. Even though he was aware that the druid magic permeating the castle was causing him to hallucinate, there was still that lingering fear that the team was ready to reject him, replace him, send him back to Earth…

“Lance!” Shiro sounded relieved and happy to hear from him. Not angry. Not dismissive. It was a hallucination. Lance was wanted. “Did you make it to the engine room?”

“Yeah, I’m at the control panel. What do I need to do?”

“Good, Lance,” Allura took over. “You’ll need to open the door below the panel and reboot the system. Since they have the systems down, we won’t be able to cut off access like before if they’re just keeping the ship in stasis. But if you reactivate the system, that should shut the whole thing down for long enough for us to get in there and try to regain control without being trapped. There should be a switch bigger than all the others that you need to pull.”

“Okay, I see it, restarting the system.” Lance pulled the switch and waited for a sound, a light, anything to indicate that something was happening. He pulled the switch again, and when nothing happened still, began frantically pulling at all the other switches. No change. “Something is wrong, nothing’s happening, I don’t know why it’s not working!”

Allura’s previously cool and calculated voice turned frustrated. “It must be the druid. Before, they brought a different power source, but an equal one. Now, though, we don’t know how their magic works. It must be interfering with all the systems. We have no control over the castle.”

Lance was panicking now. The plan had failed, he had come all this way for nothing, he was surely going to be captured and killed, and Zarkon would take the castle and the lions. “Princess, Coran, all you guys...I’m so sorry. I failed. I’m sorry.”

Shiro sighed, not in annoyance but in concern. “It’s okay, Lance, it’s not your fault-”

“Yes, it is.”

“You didn’t-”

“I didn’t what? I didn’t see a stupid drone coming up behind me with a sword? I didn’t protect my teammates? I didn’t move fast enough, or fly well enough. I get it, you know. I get that I’m the weakest link here. You needed five paladins, and where were you going to get another one in the middle of space? The blue lion accepted me in order to get the others here where they were needed. Hah, it’s kind of funny. I was always just the cargo pilot, only this time the cargo was the paladins of Voltron. Just delivering what was needed from one place to another.

“But hey, it’s okay! Allura, I bet you’re doing a great job with the blue lion. She could use someone so strong and stable like you. And you’re a great fighter, and great leader, and...I’m Lance. I’m the one who tells jokes and flirts and gets stabbed and blown up. And I got you where you needed to be, so my job is done, right?”

“Lance, that’s not true-”

“Yes, Shiro, it is.” Lance moved to stand up, no longer concerned with being caught or running out of time. Being hunched over, however, had pushed his stomach in, and stretching out felt like his skin was being ripped open. Lance cried out in pain and fell to the cold, metal floor.

“Lance! What’s wrong?” Keith sounded wildly concerned, which seemed out of character. Keith of all people was supposed to agree, say that Lance wasn’t needed. He wasn’t supposed to be concerned.

Lance choked out a humorless laugh. “Hah, see, the thing about the whole castle losing power is that the cryopods shut down, too. Turns out it didn't really get to finish patching me up.” Lance’s voice was breaking now, sad and pained. Tears were starting to stream down his face, and there was no point in fighting them back anymore. It was over.

“Shiro, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I keep messing up. I’m sorry I got stabbed. You’re such a great leader, and I love you guys, all of you, really. But I just...I can’t do this anymore. It hurts so bad. The castle is taken, and I can’t fight off druid magic.” Blood was darkening his flight suit now. “I tried really hard to be what you needed, and it was great flying with you guys, and fighting with you. I got to play the hero I always wanted to be. But I can’t do it anymore. I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Silence. 

Lance choked on his breath, something between a cough and a sob. Really, what was he expec-

“It’s okay, Lance.”

Lance sniffed in a breath, sure he heard wrong. What?”

“It’s okay if you can’t do it. You fought hard. You did what you could.”

“Shiro, you don’t really mean that. Voltron is everything to you. You’re supposed to tell me that I can, that there’s still a fight, that I can do it.”

“Well, if I said that, would you believe me?”

Lance pondered that for a second. Shiro was a great leader, and so wise, but… “No.”

“So really, telling you that wouldn’t do much. You’re allowed to not be okay, or to be afraid, or in pain. I know it’s hard. We all know it’s hard, and we know what it feels like to not be okay. We’re so proud of you for trying. I don’t know why you think we’re going to kick you off the team. You’re our family now. We’re all so far from home...we’re all each other has now.” Shiro actually chuckled. “Honestly, if you wanted to leave, I don’t think I’d let you. When Pidge wanted to leave, I said I couldn’t do anything to stop that. If someone wanted to leave, they could. A team forced to be together won’t accomplish anything. But…”

He sighed, his voice sounding much softer and more fond. “I’m so glad everyone is still here. I know what I said, but I don’t think I could really let it happen. I think I knew Pidge would stay, in the end. Or at least, I really really hoped. And it worked out. So yeah, I know I said you could leave, but I don’t want you to. None of us want you to. You could be sitting in the castle all day while Allura pilots the blue lion and I’d just be happy that you were there. We don’t have much out here. Losing you would feel like losing part of myself.”

Lance tried to collect himself, to stop crying, but that seemed impossible. He had no idea Shiro felt so close to them. “But I...I’m not a strong pilot, or fighter, and I’m not the smartest…”

Shiro cut him off before he could start again. “Lance, you were right when you said one thing. Voltron needed five paladins, and you showed up. You did. And you were told that you had to fly a giant robot lion in order to stop an intergalactic war that’s been going on for 10,000 years. And you accepted that, and did what you had to do. Somehow through all of that, when everything feels so heavy and daunting, you even still manage to laugh and stay positive. And here you are, scared, and alone, and hurt, and you’re still trying to fight for us. You are one of the strongest and bravest people I’ve ever met, and I swear, once we get there, we are going to take care of you. Because that’s what family does.”

“Shiro, no, you can’t come here, they’ll capture the lions, they’ll take you.”

“The castle is already taken. You said there’s no hope, right? This ends one way or another. Either way, I’m going to be there with my family together when it does.”

“Lance,” Hunk began. “You’re my best friend, you know that. I don’t know what I would do without you here.”

“Same goes for me,” Pidge interjected. “Matt has been gone so long and I miss him but...you remind me of him. You tease me and challenge me and you’re fun to be around. I missed that.”

“Lance, if I may,” Allura spoke, softly yet strong. Her princess voice. The voice that you felt compelled to listen to. “I know I have asked a lot of the five of you. Surely you did not expect to lose your homes and get caught up in a war. I understand how that feels. But you five paladins...despite having none of the resources and armies we had so long ago, you manage to accomplish so much. I am very proud of you, all of you.”

Lance finally managed to smile at that. “Thank you, princess.”

Bracing his arm against the control panel, Lance pulled himself slowly, carefully. He was still in pain, and he was still sad and frightened. But he also had a family, and he was going to protect them. “I’m going to find another way to save the castle.”

“That’s good to hear, buddy.” Lance could practically hear his smile.

Screw it. Screw being seen, or captured, or whatever. He had a job to do, and it was going to get done. If that meant punching a Galra commander in the face, so be it. Lance turned to head back for the door, only for it to start creaking open, forced open by a large purple arm.

“Oh, quiznak.”

The door fully opened, revealing the Galra leader. Not much taller than Lance, but much bigger. His entire body was purple like the other Galra they had encountered, but his arms were a more dull gray. They didn’t seem metal like Shiro’s arm, but not quite natural. The Galra forced his way inside, yellow eyes digging into Lance. And he was...grinning.

“Well hello there, small thing. Allow me to properly introduce myself I am Thogar, soon to be second in command next to Zarkon. I see you’ve been running around my castle.”

Lance scowled at him. “This is not your castle.”

Thogar laughed. “Oh, but I’m so happy to disagree with you on that one. See, I’ve got total control. Zarkon will be here soon, and he’ll take this castle and those silly lions. I don’t know how you managed to worm your way in here, but it is of no consequence. You have lost this fight. Did you really think we would make the same mistake twice, allowing you to take control of your castle? So long as the crystal is here and under control of my druid, you are powerless.”

Lance smirked, refusing to let him see any pain or fear. If he was going down, it surely wasn’t without a bang. “See, I thought the same thing. Turns out, though, that I have some people that I’m trying really hard to make happy. I’m sure you know the feeling, playing pet to your leader.”

Thogar howled in laughter. “Ah, I love it! So many prisoners are afraid to speak out to me out of fear of punishment. Though it seems you already know it is inevitable. No fear in the belly of the beast! An excellent approach to life, Unfortunately, yours will not be much longer, but you have entertained me for the moment, and for that I am grateful.”

Lance scowled and pulled out his bayard. “Sorry, but I’ve been working pretty hard not to die today, so I’m going to have to fight you on that one.”

Thogar’s grayish arms suddenly began to glow a deep blue. “As you wish, small thing.” And he lunged for Lance.

Lance immediately tried to move to higher ground with his jetpack, but Thogar’s arm extended and grabbed Lance around the ankle, pulling him to the ground. Lance rolled over to his back and began shooting, but all of the blasts were blocked by large blue hands. Whatever his arms were made of, they were clearly not impacted at all. Thogar approached while catching shots in each hand. Lance tried to back away, but the pain in his side made him falter. A large foot stomped his chest into the ground, and Lance had to bite his lip against the pain. He would not let this monster hear him scream.

Thogar laughed. “Shame, such a short fight. I was hoping you were not all big words. Ah well, the matter has been settled.” He lifted Lance up with one arm, bringing their faces level to one another. “Thank you for entertaining me. I must admit, whatever sort of energy your weapon produces does sting a bit. Unfortunately for you, my arms were engineered by Haggar herself, leader of the druids. You did not stand a chance.”

Lance was dropped to the ground and he fell to his knees, bayard landing in from of him. Lance curled himself over his weapon and bowed his head in silence.

Thogar apparently was pleased to see that. “You know you have been beaten. While your earlier spite was quite enjoyable, this does make my job much easier. I assure you your death will be swift.”

One of the blue arms suddenly turned yellow, and Thogar approached Lance. Leaning next to him, the yellow arm was brought to Lance’s head, heat and energy palpable in the air,

and Lance shot Thogar in the face.

Thogar fell backwards, and Lance wasted no time getting in a few more shots, making sure to aim away from the arms. While the druids may have engineered special arms, the rest of Thogar was just a regular Galra.

And Lance booked it.

Perhaps Lance really wasn’t the best pilot or fighter, but he was definitely fast. His long legs pulled him forward, and the pain faded to a dull throb as he was overtaken by adrenaline, every other step punctuated by a slight ache. There was no time to slow down, or question himself. All there was to do was run.

Lance activated his communications again. “Guys, I don’t have much time! I was caught by one of the Galra soldiers. I managed to hit him enough to distract him, but he’ll be coming after me any second now.”

Shiro seemed frantic. “Lance, you have to get out of there and hide! You know the castle better than he does, you can-”

“No!” Lance shouted. “I know what I have to do! You guys just need to get to the castle, quick!”

“Lance, you’ve done enough, you need to stay safe!”

“Let me do this, Shiro! You said we’re family, right? Well family is willing to do whatever it takes to keep each other safe. I have to go, just get here as soon as you can!”

“Lance!”

Lance shut his radio off. Still sprinting, he turned a corner and found himself exactly where he needed to be: the control room. The crystal was still in the center, glowing with dark energy. Lance ran inside and-

“Got you, small thing!”

Lance whipped around to find Thogar staring him down, a burn marking part of his face, the grin from earlier now turned wild. “The chase was fun, but I could have done without the blast to the face! Ah well, what can you do? I have you cornered now, and I wouldn’t try another trick like that again.” Both arms began to glow yellow.

Lance was stuck. He pulled his bayard out and transformed it into his gun, hefting it up into his arms, pointed directly at Thogar.

The chaotic grin was broken open by a similarly terrifying laugh. “You really think that will work again? Like I said before, we learn from our mistakes.” Thogar started forward, advancing on Lance with both arms out, almost as if for a hug.

Lance took a deep breath, let his finger curl around the trigger, and shot the crystal.

White shards exploded violently around them while the purple energy faded into some sort of mist around them. The previous red glow of the lights faded into darkness, and the room was near pitch black.

“No!” Thogar shouted in agony. “You! You little creature! I have worked so long and hard for this! You will not take victory from me, it has already been determined! You lost this fight, and now you will die.”

Surprisingly, the yellow glow from Thogar’s arm faded away to its original gray as he began to approach. “Your death was going to be quick as a mercy on you for keeping me entertained. But now, I shall make your death slow and painful.”

Thogar came closer, slapping Lance across the face. Lance fell to the floor, but only for a brief moment before being pulled back up. Thogar had Lance’s neck in a tight grip and hoisted him up against the wall.

“You may have destroyed my crystal, but you have still lost. You will die here, alone and in pain. You are nothing, and your death will be meaningless.”

Lance struggled for breath, but did not fight back. There was no use now. He was too tired, too hurt. His job was done. The others would be back any moment now and would take the castle. Thogar would be defeated, and Zarkon would not have the lions. Allura could pilot the blue lion. It was actually a relief to know that Blue had accepted her, so he didn’t need to worry about them finding a new paladin in his absence. Lance’s eyes fluttered shut, and he felt himself begin to fade. His death would not be meaningless, because it was to save his family.

Thogar’s arm suddenly fell and his body turned still. Lance tumbled to the floor, having been held up by the strong grip around his throat. Another body fell next to him, a limp gray arm splayed out beside him. Lance turned his head up to the best of his ability and saw Keith standing before him, sword in hand.

Too tired to process what’s going on, Lance’s head falls back to the ground. His head hurts. His side hurts. He hurts and he’s tired and Keith is here so now he can sleep, right?

“Lance!” Keith seems to disagree with Lance on that one. He leans down next to him and gently lifts Lance against the wall. “I know you’re probably not feeling great, but you gotta stay awake for a little bit. Hunk and Coran will be back with a new crystal soon, and we’ll put you in a healing pod, and you’ll be fine. You just gotta wait until then.”

“Keith, please, I’m so tired.” Why didn’t he understand that?

Keith gave him a soft smile. “I know, and I’m sorry I have to ask you to stay awake. Just for a little bit. Come on, keep talking to me. Tell me what happened.”

Lance ignored him. “Do you agree with them?”

“What?”

“With Shiro, and Allura. And Pidge and Hunk. They said they really care about me, that we’re family, that I’m good enough, but...you said I’m the worst pilot ever.”

“Lance, I did not mean that. I thought that was what we do, you know? Keith and Lance, rivals?”

Lance laughed, but it came out more like a wheeze. “Right, sure. You didn’t even know who I was...you’ve hated me this whole time…” Lance started to lean to the side, wanting to lay down more than anything.

Keith pulled him back up. “Hey, no, I’ve never hated you. Sure, you get under my skin, but honestly? It’s entertaining. I like being able to joke around with you and tease you. I thought you knew that.”

Lance did not know that. “But...you said I couldn’t be trusted with the blue lion...and Pidge said Allura was accepted so quickly...it just made sense, I was…”

“Lance! None of us said any of that. We would never tell you that you don’t belong with the blue lion. You’re her paladin, and a member of Team Voltron. Sure, they respond to others when needed, but Allura isn’t the blue paladin. You are.”

“Right...right...druid magic. It makes you all...wonky.”

Keith pulled Lance closer into his arms. “Lance, you’re not thinking straight. You need to stay awake.”

Lance was now being completely held up by Keith. “Keith, just...keep talking, please. Just lemme listen to you talk. I’m doing my best.”

Keith sighed. “Okay, I’ll talk. I’ll talk about how you’re a great pilot, not a cargo pilot, a fighter pilot, and you fly some crazy robot alien thing that no one else in the universe can fly but you can. And I’ll talk about the fact that you’ve been alone in a powerless castle fighting to stop some really bad people from hurting us because you’re a great person, too, not just a great pilot. And…”

Keith continued on, rambling about how much he cared about Lance, and Voltron, and Allura and Coran. Lance couldn’t really focus on exactly what he was saying, but he knew it was good things. And finally, he let himself relax fully, and drifted off.

_

Waking up from the cryopods was always a slow process. First you had to process how you were feeling: cold, and hungry, and tired, and confused. The world didn’t make much sense. However, it didn’t need to make much sense, because the rest of the team would be there to hold you up and explain what was going on.

Lance fell out of the cryopod into a brightly lit room and found himself suddenly in Hunk’s arms. He was brought down to the floor so he could sit and collect himself, and when he looked up he saw six faces staring into his.

“You doing alright, Lance?” Shiro asked, looking somewhat concerned but mostly relieved. 

“Yeah, I think...what happened?”

Pidge brightened up considerably. “Lance, you were amazing! Don’t you remember? The Galra took over the castle and you managed to stop them by yourself!”

Memories came flooding back in at that. Images of a cramped duct, of Thogar’s glowing arms, of his wicked smile marred by blast burns, of a giant arm holding him up…

He shuddered. “Oh, right. That. What happened when you guys got back?”

Allura smiled at him. “Well, as soon as we learned that the crystal was corrupted, we sent Coran and Hunk in the yellow lion to retrieve another crystal from the Balmera we freed earlier. Luckily, it was not too far from here, but we made sure to send them as soon as we knew it was safe for them to go.”

Lance glanced over at his best friend. “The same Balmera, huh? Did you get to see Shay again?”

Hunk blushed. “Maybe.”

Pidge interrupted any further interrogation. “Meanwhile, Shiro and Allura and I came back to the castle and went after the druid.”

Lance froze. “Oh man, I didn’t even think of the druid. Did you have to fight them? Are you all okay? Is the castle okay?”

Shiro smiled. “Don’t worry, everything is fine. The druids are typically a little...different from most Galra soldiers. They’re more powerful, yes, but they’re also wiser. Apparently, that one knew she was beat, and didn’t even put up a fight. As soon as we showed up, she took off. We didn’t manage to stop her, but honestly...after what happened with Sendak’s crystal infecting the castle, we weren’t really looking to try and keep a druid prisoner.”

Pidge glanced over to Keith briefly with an expression Lance couldn’t place before turning back to Lance. “And you saw Keith. As soon as he realized you and the other Galra weren’t there with the druid, he took off. Good thing, too, he was just in time or who knows what would’ve happened.”

“Heh, yeah, Keith, thanks for saving my butt.”

Keith looked up at Lance, looking like he had barely slept in days. “Yeah, uh...you’re welcome. Glad you’re okay.”

Hunk seemed to sense the tension in the room and was quick to act. “Hey, now that Lance is up, I’m gonna go cook up something really good to eat. I think we could all use it.”

Pidge nodded enthusiastically and grabbed Shiro’s arm. “Yeah, come on Shiro! You too, Allura, we should all help out!”

Everyone filed out of the room, leaving only Lance and Keith. Lance cleared his throat uncomfortably. He wasn’t sure what the issue was, but he knew he was the one who had to find out. “Hey, Keith? You doing alright?”

Keith glanced up into Lance’s eyes and sighed. “I guess. I mean, look, when I saw that guy, Thogar or whatever, strangling you, I just...got so mad. I wasn’t even thinking. I just…”

“Killed him,” Lance finished.

Keith grimaced. “Yeah. I mean, I get it, we’re in a war. There’s going to be casualties. ANd it’s not like I haven’t done this so many times, but…”

“But those were drones. Not a life. As terrible as Thogar was, and as much as we need to win this war, it’s still not easy.”

Keith seemed to get angry at that. “But it’s necessary! It’s what we have to do, or we won’t win. Zarkon has to die or we’ll never succeed.”

Lance let out a soft sigh. “That doesn’t mean you have to be okay with it, Keith.” Lance scooted over so he was closer to Keith, so Keith could feel his presence by his side. “Look, before I got to the control room, he had me beaten. I could barely move, and he was about to kill me. And I...I shot him. In the face. And it didn’t end up killing him, but it could have. And I would do it again if it was what I had to do, but I don’t want that. No one wants that.”

Lance placed his arm on Keith’s shoulder and gripped tightly. “But we’re not alone in that. We know this is what we have to do. And it’s hard, and sometimes I just want to give up and go home, but we’re here. Fighting a war. And all we have is each other to lean on, so we have to make sure we do that. This isn’t going to get easier. I...I was in a really bad situation. I almost died, a few times. And it was scary. But you saved me, and I know you would do it again because you told me how much you care about me.” Lance nudged Keith in the side, and Keith slapped his hand away but blushed nonetheless.

“So thanks for saving me. I’m sorry you had to do that. You had my back, and I’ve got yours. Okay?”

Keith looked back at Lance, eyes slightly watery. Lance wasn’t going to comment on it. “Okay.”

“Great. Now that we’ve got that settled, can I please eat? I’ve been in those cryopods twice now and I am starving.”

Keith laughed and stood, pulling Lance up with him. “Sure, let’s go.”

Keith and Lance joined the rest of the team in the kitchen, and soon everyone was gathered at the table eating some mysteriously colored but nonetheless delicious food goo. Lance was still cold, and tired, and sore, but it was a distant annoyance. Inside, everything felt warm and together. The castle was lit with bright lights all over, and a low hum prevented any true silence. Not that there was a moment for anyone to notice, since everyone was talking and laughing. After this, Lance would need a lot of sleep and a long talk with the entire team about the insecurities he had been feeling. For now, though, he had his family here to help him ease the world back into existence.

And Lance couldn’t have been happier.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I'm sure bad at ending stories! I can't help it, I love cheese sooo much.
> 
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> [Come hang out with me on tumblr!](https://zurela.tumblr.com/)


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